Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

September 29, 2015

This newsletter is sent to families who participate in Virginia Scholastic Chess Association tournaments. The VSCA is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to promoting scholastic chess in central and southeastern Virginia. Please email news@vschess.org to subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address.



Meadowdale Fall Scholastic and K-12 Quads (Grades K-12)

Wednesday is the last full day to register for the Meadowdale Fall Scholastic and K-12 Quads tournament, to be held Saturday, October 3, 2015 at Meadowdale Public Library in Chesterfield County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, October 1.

This tournament is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade and includes both rated and non-rated sections.

The K-5 Not-rated and K-12 Not-rated (grades 6-12) sections are designed for beginning tournament players (first, second or third chess tournament, with exceptions on a case-by-case basis). Games in these sections are NOT RATED by the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) and players do NOT need to be US Chess members.

The K-5 Open and K-12 Open (grades 6-12) sections are US Chess-rated sections. All players in these sections must be current US Chess members.

The K-12 Quads sections are US Chess-rated sections open to advanced scholastic players only (US Chess rating 1000+). There are no adult quads at this event. Quad entries will be divided into groups of 4 (quads) by rating. Each quad will play a 3-round round robin with a time control of G/60.

The entry fee for the scholastic sections is $10 for advance (online) registrations, and $15 for onsite registrations. The entry fee for the Quads is $20 for all players, whether registered online or onsite. Please read our Tournament Check-in Policy.

Trophies will be awarded to the top 5 individuals and the top 3 school teams in each of the scholastic Swiss sections. There are cash prizes for the K-12 Quads, with no trophies or team competition.

Please visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org for more tournament information and to register online.



Maggie L. Walker Fall Scholastic (Grades K-12)

Registration is now open for the Maggie L. Walker Fall Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, October 17, 2015 at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Richmond. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, October 15.

This tournament is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade and includes both rated and non-rated sections.

The K-5 Not-rated section and K-12 Not-rated section (grades 6-12) are designed for beginning tournament players (first, second or third chess tournament, with exceptions on a case-by-case basis). Games in these sections are NOT RATED by the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) and players do NOT need to be US Chess members.

There are 3 US Chess-rated sections. The K-5 Under 1200 section and K-12 Under 1200 section (grades 6-12) are for current US Chess members with a rating below 1200 (or unrated). New players who want more challenging games are welcome to play in these sections rather than the Not-rated sections, but a US Chess membership is required. The K-12 Championship section is for advanced players in any grade with a rating of 1200 or above. The US Chess October ratings will be used for this tournament.

The entry fee is $10 for advance (online) registrations, or $15 for onsite registrations. Please read our Tournament Check-in Policy.

Trophies will be awarded to the top 5 individuals in each of the five sections, and to the top 3 teams in each section except K-12 Championship. There is no team competition in the K-12 Championship section, and players from the same school may be paired against each other.

Please visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org for more tournament information and to register online.



Other Upcoming VSCA Tournaments

The Kemps Landing/Old Donation School tournament will be held October 31 in Virginia Beach. This tournament will include K-5 and K-12 Not-rated sections and K-5 and K-12 Open (rated) sections, as well as Open Quads for adults and advanced scholastic players. Advance registration will open October 14 at www.vschess.org.

A calendar of VSCA events as well as other scholastic events in Virginia is available at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar.



Grafton Tournament Results

62 scholastic and adult players participated in the Grafton Fall Scholastic and Quads Tournament, held at Grafton Middle School in York County on September 19, 2015.

The K-5 Not-rated section and the K-12 Not-rated section were combined with separate awards.

In the K-5 Not-rated section, Chase Behrens won the first place trophy with a perfect score of 4.0 points in 4 rounds. Hilton Elementary School from Newport News won the first-place team trophy.

In the K-12 Not-rated section, Daniel Truxler won the first-place trophy with a score of 2.5 points in 4 rounds. There were no K-12 Not-rated teams.

In the K-5 Open section, Nihal Pothunoori won the first-place trophy by tiebreaks over Arjun Azhagappan and Ritvika Palani. Nihal, Arjun and Ritvika each finished with a score of 3.0 points in 4 rounds. Cape Henry Collegiate School from Virginia Beach won the the K-5 Open first-place team trophy.

In the K-12 Open section, Nic Balser won the first-place trophy with a perfect score of 4.0 points in 4 rounds. Fork Union Military Academy from Fluvanna County won the K-12 Open first-place team trophy by tiebreaks over the host team from Grafton Middle School.

The winners in the three Open Quads and the Small Swiss section were Jeffrey Song (11th grade), Ryan Balser (10th grade), Mr. Matt Thomas, and Trey Johnson (10th grade).

Congratulations to all of these players and to all of our other tournament participants. Complete tournament results are available at www.vschess.org/results.



Virginia Beach National Chess Day Festival

The Virginia Beach National Chess Day Festival will be held outdoors at Virginia Beach Town Center on Saturday, October 10, 2015. The event is organized by the Hampton Roads Chess Club and the Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club, and will include US Chess-rated and Not-rated tournament sections for all ages and abilities, a simultaneous chess exhibition by Virginia State Champions Dan Miller and James Schuyler, free chess lessons for beginners, and a giant chess board. Spectators are welcome. The entry fee is $10 per player for the tournament and $5 for the simul. There is no charge for spectators. Advance registration for the tournament and the simul is now open at www.vschess.org.



Richmond Metropolitan Grand Prix Tournaments

The Richmond Chess Initiative (RCI) and the Richmond Public Library are hosting a series of Saturday tournaments for scholastic and adult players. The next tournaments are October 3 at the Richmond Main Library branch, October 10 at the Belmont Library branch, October 17 at the Westover Hills Library branch, and October 24 at the North Avenue Library branch. Weekly training sessions, free and open to the public, are also scheduled every Monday evening 6:00-7:30 pm at the North Avenue branch and the Westover Hills branch, and every Wednesday evening 6:00-7:30 pm at the Main branch and the Belmont branch. The CEO and founder of RCI is VSCA secretary Mike Callaham. For more information, visit the RCI website at richmondchessinitiative.wordpress.com/busline-grand-prix-schedule/.



Richmond National Chess Day Festival

Mr. Macon Shibut, three-time Virginia state champion and the editor of the Virginia Chess Federation newsletter, will give a brief lecture and play a simultaneous exhibition on Saturday, October 10 from 10 am to 3 pm at Gallery5, 200 West Marshall Street, Richmond. The event is hosted by RVA Pieces, Richmond Chess Initiative (RCI) and Gallery5. For more information, visit the RCI website at richmondchessinitiative.wordpress.com/national-chess-day-festival-october-10th/.



Richmond City Championship Tournament

The Richmond Chess Initiative (RCI) is hosting the first annual Richmond City Championship for scholastic and adult players on Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, at Lucille Brown Middle School in Richmond. The CEO and founder of RCI is VSCA secretary Mike Callaham. For more information, visit the RCI website at richmondchessinitiative.wordpress.com/the-richmond-metropolitan-grand-prix/2-day-schedule/.



Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club

The Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club, organized by VSCA Board Member Christina Schweiss, has merged with the Hampton Roads Chess Club and the Virginia Beach Chess Club, and meets on Tuesday evenings at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach. Scholastic players meet from 5:00 to 7:30 pm, and adults and advanced scholastic players meet from 7:00 to 10:30 pm. Meetings include training as well as rated tournaments. For more information, visit the chess club's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HRScholasticChessClub.



It's Your Move!

VSCA secretary and Class A player Mike Callaham has generously offered to analyze and comment on VSCA tournament games which players send him. If you have a game that you're proud of, or a game where you feel you could have played better, and would like Mr. Callaham to take a look at it, all you need to do is send him a copy of your complete and legible scoresheet (game notation). He will respond by email, and games which are especially interesting or instructive will be published on the VSCA website. For complete details, visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org/chess-resources/games. Mr. Callaham has recently posted his analysis of three outstanding games from the Virginia Scholastic Championships in Charlottesville, and a very interesting game from the April 18 Fork Union Spring Scholastic.

Mr. Callaham is the CEO and founder of the Richmond Chess Initiative, the coordinator and head coach of the Richmond Middle School Chess League, and currently coaches chess clubs at Binford, Boushall, Lucille Brown, Thomas Henderson, Albert Hill, and Thompson Middle Schools in Richmond, J. B. Fisher Elementary School in Richmond, and Tuckahoe Elementary School in Henrico County. Coach Callaham has also met with chess clubs at many other Virginia schools, and he would like to visit as many other school chess clubs as possible on behalf of the VSCA. Parents and coaches, if you would like to have Mr. Callaham visit your school club for a free simul, chess clinic or lecture, please contact him at waterman2010kir@aol.com. Be sure to provide contact information for the school chess sponsor/coach. This is a wonderful opportunity for your school to benefit from the help of an experienced chess player and teacher.



Visit Us on Facebook

Check out the VSCA Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vascholasticchess, managed by parent and board member Christina Schweiss.



Tournament Registration and Entry Fees

Advance registration for VSCA tournaments is ONLINE ONLY at www.vschess.org, and closes at 7:00 AM on the Thursday before the tournament. In order to accurately process entries, we cannot accept mail, phone or e-mail registrations. The scholastic advance registration entry fee of $10 may be paid online through PayPal (preferred) or at the tournament. Players who do not register before the 7:00 AM Thursday deadline can register at the tournament between 8:00 and 9:00 am on Saturday, but they will need to pay the late entry fee of $15. Players who register later than 8:30 am on Saturday may or may not be paired for the first round, depending on the number of late registrations.

The entry fee for Open Quads sections is $20 for both advance registrations and on-site registrations.

Please note that the above information applies only to Virginia Scholastic Chess Association tournaments, and does NOT apply to the Virginia Scholastic and Collegiate Championships or other non-VSCA events.



Tournament Check-in

To help start our tournaments on time, we recently implemented a new check-in policy. Players who pay online do not need to check in at the tournament, but must let us know if they are not coming. Please read the following brief instructions:

All Players: If you are registering and/or paying at the tournament: If you are paying online:


US Chess Membership

Current membership in the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) is REQUIRED in order to play in VSCA tournaments, except for sections specifically designated as not-rated. In order to avoid delays on Saturday, please join or renew directly with US Chess at www.uschess.org/webstore. Please do not mail a paper application form or check to US Chess, since this may cause delays in processing your membership. If you are unable to join or renew online, please plan to fill out a membership application at the tournament. You can check membership status at www.uschess.org/msa. The U.S. Chess Federation maintains a national database of ratings (relative playing strengths) for adult and scholastic players. In order to update the ratings following each tournament, all players in rated sections of a tournament must be current US Chess members.



Please visit our website at www.vschess.org for the latest news and information.